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Monday, April 12, 2010

A Country Diary

Many of you remember THE COUNTRY DIARY OF AN EDWARDIAN LADY published in the early 80's, now out of print. Edith Holden was an early sort of 'concept' blogger minus the computer. She kept a log, but the only web would have been the spidery kind. She had such a need to share the beauty surrounding her that she drew her own images, gathered her own research, and meticulously hand lettered each post! Whom did she imagine would ever get to appreciate her wonderful project when it was finished at the turn of the LAST century? We always try to have a copy of her lovely work, and it's striking how respectfully cared for these gorgeous old books have been. A whole new audience is beginning to discover her nature drawings again.

Edith's bird renderings are particularly pleasing to me. And bird themed items remain very popular in general. But of most particular appeal these days are antique birdcages. Instead of a canary, they seem to hold the memory and imagination captive. Every one's grandmother had one "just like that one." Everyone wants one, and the variety is remarkable. Not only are cages wonderfully decorative as is, but they hold limitless creativity as to where they may be placed and what they may contain. They have ageless appeal and cross gender lines. My own preschool Texan grand-daughters became captivated last summer with a simple-lined, largish, three-domed, powder-pink beauty that I acquired at Canton, and which they adopted as it lay astride the Toyota waiting to be reconfigured into the impossible load. They left acorns and leaves in it overnight in hopes of trapping their three-legged, freedom loving, yard squirrel Chuck. They were twice disappointed. Not only did Chuck fail to oblige, but Nanny took the cage with her. This could be one story which ends, "my grandmother had to have one just like it."